"While we recognise that it is vital to get the unemployed back into work, we are disappointed the government has not prioritised the urgent needs of the 3.9 million children living in poverty. Some families in poverty will be helped by the support for Jobcentre Plus and for those under 25 unemployed for over a year, but putting money into the hands of parents is the key way to lift children out of poverty and the shamefully small increase in child tax credit will not be enough. The government is unlikely now to meet its own target to halve child poverty by 2010. Without the £3bn invested in family incomes that we called for in this budget, children across the UK will continue to face the costs of social disadvantage, exclusion, and poor health and nutrition."

"The money targeted on the children struggling most during the recession amounts to less each week than the cost of a pint of milk. It is disgraceful to give such a pittance. We have seen banks and businesses bailed out, but almost nothing for families who are having their own financial crisis meetings around the kitchen table instead of the board room. The budget urgently needed to give targeted help to struggling families who will spend straight away and give an immediate boost to the economy. Low income communities have also been denied the extra spending power that would have helped their local businesses stay afloat.

The government is now unlikely to meet its target to halve child poverty by 2010. Without investing the £3bn in family incomes that the Campaign to End Child Poverty called for, millions of children across the UK will continue to face the unfair costs of social disadvantage, exclusion and poor health. The investment in Jobcentre Plus was absolutely necessary. The government must now let job centre staff focus these resources on jobseekers and young unemployed people by suspending the extra time demands and bureaucracy of the welfare reform programme."

"This budget provides very little new cash to help bring down Britain's high levels of child poverty. Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to underperform at school and face a higher risk of unemployment and low wages in adulthood, so this budget is a missed opportunity to improve the life chances of millions of children. Although this government has lifted 600,000 children out of poverty since 1998, progress has stalled in recent years. This was the government's last chance to make the necessary investment to meet its own target of halving child poverty by 2010. This target is now almost certainly unachievable, which will also make it even harder to reach the long-term goal of ending child poverty by 2020. ippr suggested a series of measures ahead of the budget that place the burden of tax on the wealthiest people in society and the introduction of a carbon tax. The the package would benefit all but the wealthiest of individuals and families and would enable the government to meet its commitment to halve child poverty by 2010."

"EDCM welcome the measures announced in the Budget to tackle poverty for disabled children in the UK to increase child trust funds - we are delighted by this significant investment in the future for disabled children. We also welcome the wider measures to increase the child element of child tax credit and to acknowledge the caring role of grandparents. However, we urge government to make further commitments to tackle the high levels of poverty experienced by disabled children and their families through measures to support parents access to work

"The government's announcement of a new £20m hardship fund could help support the voluntary and community sector deliver frontline services to the most disadvantaged in society. At a time when the sector is being forced to balance increased demand and falling resources, the need to help charities unlock additional resources has never been greater. As yet, we are unclear how and when these funds will be allocated."

"The budget may be luring the public sector into a false sense of optimism and complacency. The chancellor has not taken any major steps towards making the big savings he eventually will have to make in two or three years when the recession ends. The public sector might be relatively safe at the moment because everyone knows that the government is committed to a Keynesian policy of fiscal stimulus which means using public money to help ease the real economy out of the current downturn. But there is no such thing as a free lunch. Eventually the government will need to pay the bill, either by raising taxes or by cutting spending. When that happens, the consequences for the public sector could be dramatic. Senior officials are beginning to wake up to the reality of the situation, but they may still be underestimating the scale of the problem. It is already clear that the savings that will be required in due course cannot be delivered through efficiency programmes, there will inevitably be a need for much more radical measures. These could include job cuts in the public sector, possibly on quite a large scale, once the recession ends.

Eventually, the whole approach to the delivery of public services will have to be re-engineered. In the private sector, approaches to delivery have changed out of recognition in recent years. Huge numbers of jobs have been lost in the 'front office' on the high street and have been replaced with online services, call centres and distribution hubs.

The public sector has been slow to follow suit, but similar changes will be required, and they will not be achieved without upheaval and without major implications for public sector jobs. Roughly one quarter of all public expenditure goes on paying the wages of public sector employees. It is very difficult to see how the required savings can be made without a substantial reduction in that pay bill. The message for the public sector is stark. All public sector organisations need to take a cold, hard look at where they spend their money and make difficult choices about priorities; they need to implement radical new approaches in the delivery of public services."

"The Audit Commission stands ready to assist the chancellor, local councils and all those delivering public services in a renewed search for economies, against glacial background projections of public spending into the next decade. The commission is dedicated to delivering services at minimum cost and will continue its extensive programme of studies and analysis in the permanent and unremitting search for value for money in public services. We have an extensive programme of work in hand to provide more evidence of what public bodies spend, to what effect and whether their objectives are being realised. These products will, I am sure, enable us to assist ministers, parliamentarians and local authority-elected members to identify additional efficiency savings and more rigorously appraise the effectiveness of those who provide public services."

"The chancellor has taken a step in the right direction by identifying some clear ways of kickstarting house building, but unfortunately he hasn't been bold enough. The government is right to take a stake in housing projects where work has stalled and to make it easier for social housing to be built, but ministers needed to go further. We are in the midst of major economic and housing crises, and the chancellor should simply have backed our call to spend £6.35bn of public money on helping housing associations deliver 100,000 new social homes over the next two years. Under our proposal, billions of pounds would have been pumped into the economy, a quarter of a million people would have been taken off social housing waiting lists and thousands of construction industry jobs would have been saved. We now fear that because the government has failed to back a comprehensive house building programme the number of homes delivered this financial year will slump to an 88-year low of 70,000, while the number of people on social housing waiting lists will simply soar to unparalleled levels."

"The fund for local job creation will help to generate jobs, get local economies moving and help to prevent another 'lost generation' of young unemployed. Previous recessions have left tens of thousands of people unemployed for years, even decades, and stuck in a dependency culture without the skills that they need to get a job. The devastating impact of this lost generation from previous recessions is still being felt in many parts of the UK today. It is hugely encouraging that action is being taken to target this, and we will work to ensure that councils have genuine control to spend the money in the interest of local people.

Councils have thousands of small scale projects on the stocks and ready to go that will create tens of thousands of jobs in both private and public sectors and help to kickstart the local economy. The chancellor's money will create the most number of jobs and have the most significant effect if it is channelled through local authorities on projects that can get started immediately. From giving town centres a facelift and insulating people's homes to filling in potholes, town halls are ready and willing to boost the local economy, creating jobs and getting things moving again. The LGA has consistently argued that councils will be able to create the most jobs and make the best use of money to help fight the recession and has lobbied hard over the last few months to ensure that town halls are at the centre of job creation programmes. It is excellent news that ministers have listened to what we have been saying."

"This is the most significant budget since 1945. It will shape the environment in which councils operate for the next decade, and it will be years before we can judge the impact. The increased money for jobs, green growth and housing will be welcomed by councils, as long as they are given the lead role in making the best use of the investment on the ground. This is no time for Whitehall inertia, red tape and quangos to stand in the way of local innovation, local solutions, and partnership working with businesses in communities. The budget must be a turning point to force the localist spring, where central government recognises that local councils are best placed to support communities through the recession and lead them out of it. At the same time, increased efficiency targets in the short term, and the effect of massive government borrowing on public finances in the long term, will force huge changes in the way that local services are funded and delivered. Councils must rise to meet these unprecedented challenges."

"The chancellor is right to point to a new generation of workers who are being attracted to the social care profession and so the investment announced today is more than welcome, especially because of high vacancy rates in the sector. It's now up to us to make sure we skill them up and keep them in social care. It's an exciting time to train this new workforce and there are many attractive reasons to become a social care professional. However it's a challenging time and this new career isn't an easy option. The first thing we need to tell new recruits about is changing demographics: aging baby boomers are simply not going to tolerate the paternalistic style of some traditional support services.

We at SCIE will be available to provide best practice to new workers and to the managers who will be supervising them, especially in the early stages of their careers. This will ensure that the status of social care is raised and the right people gain a wide range of skills in a rewarding job that helps to support some of the country's most vulnerable people who are suffering because of the recession."

"More and more of us will require social care in the future and it is therefore vital that the current recruitment issues in the sector are addressed as a matter of urgency. We welcome this investment to train more people to go into social care - it is a wonderful opportunity to encourage people to go into a very rewarding career. It is important that good quality training is provided through this initiative so that people have the skills needed to ensure high standards for people needing care services. The intention is for home care and other social care workers to register with the GSCC in the future, requiring qualifications, so it is important that any new initiatives train people to the standards that will be required."

"Our ageing population presents an unprecedented challenge to our society. Promotion of jobs in the care sector will only go part of the way to increase quality of care. The green paper must be bold and ambitious in tackling the care crisis in this country while also encouraging innovation in the care market. Radical reform of the care system is the only way to ensure that all older people get the right care and the right deal wherever they live."